in diameter: bark bright red: branches ascending: 

 Ivs. usually falcate, thickish, distinctly and abruptly 

 mucronate, dark green almve, p;i1h fulvoim sreen or 

 pale green beneath. '■_•-! in. I-'iii:: fr. I 

 baccatd, Japan. Vrry ^iinihir tn 7' 

 branches more upriLrlir. vi,.ut< i- ami 

 broader, more abru|'il\- iniKTon.iif .iiai 

 ture. Var. nana, Hon. ( /'. h,-, n h.ln, . Ilo 



Canadensis, Mar-li. i 7', h,ir,-:iin. var. 



earlier than that of 

 usually). Newfouu 

 Iowa. B.B. l:fil. ' 



10:514. Probably as har.ly as 

 Chapm. Bushy tree, 25 ft. high 

 slender, %-\ in. long, dark green. 



erally light labor involved in the growth and manufac- 

 ture of Tea; and converting countless acres of now 

 idle land into blooming and remunerative tea-gardens. 

 Where in Assam was once a dismal jungle, the home of 

 the tiger and cobra, and full of deadlier fevers, almost 

 uninhabited by man and practically worthless, is now— 

 thanks to the tea-industry— a fertile, comparatively 



TEA. The Tea plant is described in this work under 

 Camellia Tliea, together with its varieties Bohea and 

 ^•iridis, of which the former was supposed to yield 

 black Tea and the latter green Tea. Both kinds can be 

 produced from either variety, the dittereni-e lying in 

 tlie process of ni;iiiuf:ii'tiire. Tea is ill! jigricultural 



ireiiotal '-x i'ln[M.ilias au'i '.|vi.wlo-i-e. l-'ortliese reasons 

 no -.iieral article on Tea is h,o-e included. The fol- 



of'^the Tea-growii 



plant is shown in Fig. 2472. 



L. H. B. 



KiPAN Tea. -Previous to the inauguration of the 

 ir-t cx|icrimentation in South Carolina, it had 

 i'liTi-i.uith- demonstrated that parts of the south- 

 ates were well adapted for the growth of those 

 [es c-t" the Tea plant which do not require a tropi- 

 mate; and before the Civil War many families 

 ed themselves with Tea grown and made at 

 the result of the distribution of oriental Tea 

 ;hroughout the southern states by the national 

 3ut it remained to be solved whether 

 Tea might be produced on a large scale at a profit. The 

 Pinehnrst experiments have shown that American tea- 

 gardens are capable of yielding as m\ich as the aver- 

 age Asiatic, and that the quality of the leaf is not less 

 satisfactory. 



The advantages in favor of raising Tea in this country 

 are the avoidance of long transportation, which generally 

 induces deterioration in quality; securitv fr»i»n the in- 

 terference of war with the importation ..I l..iciL.|i I'.. as: 

 and the protection of the industry tt\ ;i . iiall 



offset the difference in the price of li: i i ■ iine 



sorts of Tea do not keep well, that the ],,-], linim " of 

 Tea to prevent mildew, necessarily deprives it of much 

 of its flavor, and that for these reasons the best of the 

 oriental Teas are rarely exported, least of all to the 



healthy, civilized region, affording lucrative employ- 

 ment to thousands of Europeans and natives. As much 

 can be brought about in many neglected parts of the 

 southern states; but probably, as was the case in Assam, 

 only through the long category of persistent labor, se- 

 vere trials, frequent mistakes, temporary depressions 

 and final success. 



The disadvantages which operate against the estab- 

 lishment of an American Tea industry are, chiefly, au 

 insufficient rainfall, the higher price of labor, and the 

 conversion of tea-drinkers to the taste of a new sort of 

 Tea. Of secondary importance is the disinclination of 

 capital to embark in the undertaking which, although 

 apparently new, has, undeservedly as we think, the 

 stigma of previous failures. Further experiments to 

 relieve the burden of the above obiections will, it is 

 believed, pave the way for a hearty endorsement of the 

 practicability of the industry, and then there will be no 

 withholding of the recpiisite means. 



The Pinehurstexpeni, Milts ha'.e si,,,wn. oilur tlmms 



being equal, the de]>eii(ieii« f tie. j.rodnci iverM..-s 



of the tea-plant upon rni ..ilinn.lant sn|i|.ly ..f limi-- 

 ture, whether of precipitai ion ur pcrcl.-ii inn. or li\" ;ii i i- 

 ftcial irrigation. The yearly rainfall in the oriental 



more. Almost all of it occurs in the ie:if-|,ro,hiciii:,' 

 months; whereas here the aqueous precipitation, dur- 

 ing the same season amounts to about thirty inches. It 

 becomes necessary, therefore, that the American tea- 

 planter should conserve and supplement this supply to 

 the utmost, by a system of tillage which shall absorb 

 and yield to the plant as much as possible; by the dis- 

 tribution of the trenches and the terracing of the land 

 with a view to preventing the denudation of the surface 

 and the loss of water during the heavier rains. These 

 objects are largely attained by placing the tea-gardens 

 on well-drained, flat lowlands or former pond-beds. 

 Very recently special attention has been paid to the 



